1932, Hello Gorgeous, Buddy Rogers Orch. Hi Def, 78RPM

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Category:

Music

Tags:

• 1930s
• Hello Gorgeous
• Buddy Rogers
• 78RPM
• Fox Trot
• Jazz
• Swing
• automobile
• big band
• Hi Definition
• roaring twenties
• vocal
• radio
• victrola
• talkies
• flapper
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• Bix
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• Ballew
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• Vallee
• Goodman
• depression
• collectable
• vintage recording

[teebeesea]

Early on I noticed the similarity between the sound of the Rogers Victors and the Warings of the same period...does anyone have any firm data on the personnel of these great records from 1932?

[Prozoot]

RatPfink also noticed the similarity to Waring ....you guys may be on to something!

[dancebandleader]

@JCJasion You bet. I think part of the reason could have been

slightly more reflected sound in these Orthophonic selections--

some of the American swing bands seem to have been recorded

in what sounds like heavily carpeted living rooms. Example:

listen to Ted Weems' "Cobblestones" (1928), beautiful recorded

sound---the selection on the reverse of the Victor pressing (by another

band) seems quite dry and probably from a smaller studio.. Gene Kardos' "San" (c.1932) is spacious too

[brosro]

I'd like to throw Nat Shilkret into the "sounds like" mix. He was musical director of Victor. He controlled the recording budget and had top musicians under contract. He was phasing out recording under his name in '31 and '32, so why not front some of these "stars"

himself. This recording sounds like

it's backed by the Arden-Ohman band. In my opinion, in either case, this is a Shilkret studio group. Rogers, Arden-Ohman, Conrad, etc ,had too few record dates to finance their own bands.

[52Sterling]

Just a comment - I you hear an Orthophonic in good condition, the realism is almost terrifying. It is even more realistic than all the digital stuff today. You'd swear the singer was right in the room. I could not believe it when I first got a demonstration from a friend who has one.

[JCJasion]

Enough people seem to be putting out YouTube clips of their later period electrical 78's played on Orthophonic Victrolas so you can make a judgement for yourself. I think that it wasn't until the late 1940's and the advent of high fidelity playback becoming widely available to the public that the playback quality of the Orthophonic Victrola was eclipsed.

[RatPfink66]

Yes, you have to wonder whether the home listener of that day ever experienced the "big sound" of an outfit such as Rogers's, or the group they seem to be patterned after: Waring's Pennsylvanians.

Some fellas more "instrument" oriented than I have told me the late acoustic Victrolas, ie the Orthophonic, sound a lot better than the early electric jobs - but only when playing late 20s recordings, and some say, only those by Victor! Guess I'll have to take their word.

[lionelatwill]

Buddy Rogers married Douglas Fairbanks' widow Mary Pickford and lived a long happy life. I enjoyed his films. Wonderful recording.

[pax41]

Buddy Rogers records are hard to find these days, thanks for sharing this great song.

[JCJasion]

Nice! And in better fidelity than you could play it back in at the time it was recorded!